


It Tumbles

by yeahyoursisbetterprobably



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Immortal Gobber, Night Furies are terrifying, Tumblr Shorts, cyborgs and AIs, night furies have two heads
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-12-30 09:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18313178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeahyoursisbetterprobably/pseuds/yeahyoursisbetterprobably
Summary: Little things that happen on Tumblr.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All tags are subject to change | Go check the original posts. They’re great.

[The original post @ashleybenlove](http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/183847394716/what-if-gobber-outlived-hiccup)

_What if Gobber outlived Hiccup._

 

Hiccup is old. He’s raised children. He’s seen his grandchildren. He’s still got his wife with him. He’s enjoying his retirement.

Every other morning, he walks from his house down to the forge. It takes a long time these days. Gobber still works there. At 110 he’s virtually unchanged from when he was 50. Every time Hiccup visits, he finds a stool and a cup of water waiting for him. Every time, Gobber tells him “when I was your age, laddie, I used to run between you house and the forge three times a day”, which, Hiccup knows, is blatantly untrue. It was usually more than that.

If anyone ever askes about Gobber, they tell them he’s cursed.

“Hobgobblers” they’ll say, “the curse of the Hobgobblers.”


	2. Chapter 2

[The theory that sparked this one off @jackthevulture](https://jackthevulture.tumblr.com/post/67719732614/how-toothless-might-hunt)

* * *

 

Hiccup wonders, sometimes, why Night Furies are called ‘unholy’. The ‘death’ part he understands, even the ‘lightning’ descriptor can be attributed. But ‘unholy’? Why pen that down?

 

He and Toothless have been out for most of the day. Now that Hiccup’s leg has healed and he no longer has to go home and lay down after only a couple of hours of exertion, the two of them tend to take _long_ flights.

 

Hiccup is starving. Toothless must be as well. Sure, they stopped for lunch, but Hiccup’s always been a many-little-meals eater, and Toothless expends huge amounts of energy.

“We’ll have to raid the store when we get home. I doubt you’re up to going fishing again, right bud?”

 

Toothless croons back at Hiccup, but his ear-plates are twitching back and forth. He’s heard something interesting.

They gain altitude and where the clouds thin in the steady breeze a flock of - possibly - groncles becomes visible below them.

“They must be heading back home for the night.” Hiccup stretches in his seat, “We should be too, you know.”

 

Toothless, however, is thoroughly distracted by the dragons flying below them.

Hiccup recognises the way that Toothless begins to tense, and adjusts the tailfin and himself for a steep dive.

“Toothless, what are you doing now?”

 

They begin to drop. Slowly at first, but gaining speed rapidly. Toothless brings his wings in and the wind stings so sharp that Hiccup can’t keep his eyes open. They’re falling so fast he can even breath.

 

The impact is so sudden that Hiccup is nearly thrown from the saddle. He hears snapping, cracking sounds, and as Toothless levels out of his dive, Hiccup desperately blinks water from his eyes.

 

Toothless banks and brings them into land. Hiccup slides from the saddle as soon as they’re on solid ground again and rubs at his numb cheeks and stinging ears.

 

“What was that about? What did we hit?”

But that becomes a rhetorical question when he finally focuses on his dragon, rather than his wind burn.

 

One of the gronkles is dead on the grass, Toothless sniffing around the carcass curiously. Hiccup can only watch as Toothless turns it over to expose its belly, and almost eagerly uses his flexible claws to tear it open.

 

Toothless takes his time with his dinner. Almost carefully pulling it apart to find the best, fattiest parts.

 

Its not the last time during their friendship that Hiccup is a part of the Night Fury’s hunt.

 

This is not something that he ever writes down in the book of dragons.

 

He doesn’t need to; after all, someone already did.

 

_The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Run and pray it does not find you_

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation between a cyborg and his girlfriend, with comments from his AI pet.

[This](https://jk-and-melbourne.tumblr.com/post/183934114213/tumblingstar-pg-chan-jumpingjacktrash) is the thread that got me thinking.

 

In his first year, showing up for classes on his bike, in jeans, on those few and far-between sunny February days had gotten Hiccup a whole lot of  _very_  strange looks. And not only because there were very few eighteen-year-old who could afford the bike in the first place.

 

Now, two years later, after having smashed his way through two simultaneous Bachelor degrees, he’s become one of those campus legends that everyone talks about but no one really believes. Which, honestly, suits Hiccup just fine. The less personal attention he gets the better, and frankly enough people already know of medical breakthrough, robotics prodigy  _Haakon Haddock_  – ‘Hiccup’ Haddock likes his privacy.

 

He trips on the top of the stairs, catches his knees hard on the landing, and gets a sharp jab in his kidneys and a discontented rumble from under his jacket.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Hiccup mutters under his breath as he stands up.

Two rows of nubbly teeth nip his shoulder blade. Overprotective tangle of circuits that Toothless is, he hates it when Hiccup does damage to himself.

 

Toothless had been around since a child Hiccup had been bored out of his brain with school and decided to try his hand at programming. Inspired by robo-pets, emotional support animals, The Hobbit and way too much red cordial, Toothless 1.18 had been a sort of flying kitten. Then, The Accident happened, and Hiccup had spent eight months bed-bound, and the following twelve in PT.

Now days, Toothless (17.5) was more overprotective-best-friend than technological marvel. Stoick loudly despaired that his son’s greatest achievement would never make it into the open market, but Hiccup knew his dad wasn’t truly all that serious about it, and was happy to share his base coding with the company, with a few conditions ( _Haddock & Sons_ was known for its exceptional contributions to Medicine. Bringing out a line of dragon-themed support androids with functional AI at practically base cost? They’d put the National Health Service into a tizzy).

 

“Hiccup!”

“Astrid, good morning.”

“I can’t believe you  _rode_  in today. Your dad’ll kill you if he finds out.”

“ _If_  being the keyword here. I think I might need to head into the workshop later. I have to take a look at my cooling system again.”

“Really?”

“Sucks, but at least its winter?”

“Yeah, I don’t think the Uni would be that thrilled if you showed up in nothing but board-shots and flip-flops.  _Again_.”

“Astrid! That was one time!”

“I think you had the entire campus swooning after you.”

“Gods. Don’t remind me.”

“Seriously though; you’re okay?”

“Well, half of me is made of cables and carbon fiber, but other than that, I’m good.”

“You know what, from now on I’m asking Toothless.”

“You know he doesn’t talk, right?”

Toothless poked his head out of Hiccup’s collar and bark-coughed in Hiccup’s ear.

“What? Oh don’t give me that look.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, god, I am having so much fun with this one!

We want to say thank you to [justatranquilcloud](https://justatranquilcloud.tumblr.com/) and her [crack!au](https://justatranquilcloud.tumblr.com/post/184187177716/httyd-au-where-either-toothless-is-a-zippleback) and [artwork](https://jk-and-melbourne.tumblr.com/post/184415121463/two-heads-twice-the-status-this-ones-for) that followed

 

* * *

 

Night Furies have two heads.  _Night Furies have **Two Heads**._

Hiccup’s had too much excitement lately to really think about it beyond  _I shot down a Night Fury I didn’t kill the Night Fury I survived the Night Fury_. But now he’s sitting in the great hall with the dragon manual open in front of him, and his own sketchbook open on top of that, and they  _have two heads_.

Two-headed dragons are too not unusual. Zipplebacks have two heads. Seashockers (even though most Vikings are torn between believing they exist, or claiming they’re sailor’s myths) have two heads.

But no one has ever seen a Night Fury before. And that leaves Hiccup with so much to discover, but …

_He has two heads._

 


End file.
